ENC 3250 Professional writing:midterm reflection

1. ENC 3250 PROFESSIONAL
WRITING:
MIDTERM REFLECTION
Jennifer G Albert

2. THE 5 C’S
Clear
• Is your message clear? Are your 3 purpose clear? To inform, request,
persuade.
Concise
• KISS; Keep it Short and Simple
• Analyze your readers, know what information is known and what is needed.
Complete
• Make sure all the details and news are included
Correct
• Correct grammar, format, punctuation, capitalization, spelling and word usage
Courteous
• Watch your tone, loaded language, punctuation shots.
• Professional writing is polite.

3. CHAPTER 1: THE WRITING
PROCESS
Preparation
Research Organization Writing Revising

4.  Preparation
 establish purpose, know your audience, determine what you are writing about.
 Research
 Research your topic
 Know important information
 Organization
 Method of development
 Design, layout, format
 Outlining
 Writing
 Write rough draft
 Revising
 Check grammar, punctuation, effectiveness, purpose

5. CHAPTER 2: WORKPLACE
TECHNOLOGY
Email
Forms and blogs
Memos
Letters
Faxes
Instant Messaging
Conference calls
Smartphones and tablets
Voicemail
Face to Face
Video chat

6.  There are always new technologies; attending seminars can help
you learn and better yourself when it comes to using these
different technologies at work.
 Depending on what it is you are doing effect the correct medium
some one might want to use.
 Emails between employees is a good form of communication, but
it needs to be polite, and professional.

7. CHAPTER 4: CORRESPONDENCE
 Audience & writing style
 Informal vs. formal style.
 Express vs impress
 Opening
 Identify subject and purpose
 Closing
 Make sure you have let your readers understand what it is you want them to do once
they fishing reading the corresponded.

8. CONTINUATION
 Direct pattern (neutral or good news)
 Main point
 Explanation of details or facts.
 Honey statement
 Indirect pattern (bad or sensitive news)
 Short buffer statement
 Bad or sensitive news statement.
 Clarity and Emphasis
 List, heading, subject lines.

9. LETTERS
 Letter Format
 Letter Heading
 Inside address
 Salutation
 Subject line
 Body
 Complimentary Closing
 Writers signature block
 End notations
 Continuing pages

10. MEMOS
 Memo format
 Use of heading and list to provide clarity by providing emphasis
 No salutation or complimentary closing in memos
 Continuing pages

11. CHAPTER 10: STYLE AND CLARITY
 Constructing Clear Messages
 Awkwardness, coherence, parallel structure, sentence variety
 Word Choice Issues
 Abstract/concrete words , idioms, jargon
 Logic Errors
 Lack of reason. Sweeping generalizations, non sequiturs, false cause, biases
or suppressed evidence, fact vs. opinion, loaded arguments.
 Biased language
 Sexist language

12. CONTINUATION.
Positive Writing
 Negative
 If the error does not involve data transmission, the backup function will
not be used
 Positive:
 The backup function is used only when the error involves data
transmissions

13. CHAPTER 7: DESIGN AND VISUALS
 Layout and Design
 Groupng
 Constrast
 Repetition
 Typography
 Typeface and type size
 Stype style and emphasis

14. PAGE DESIGN ELEMENTS
• Justification
• Heading
• Headers and footers
• List
• Columns
• White space
• Color

15. CONTINUATION
 Visuals
 Icons
 Captions
 Rules
 Flowcharts
 Graphs
 Line graphs
 Bar graph
 Pie graphs
 Picture graphs

16. CONTINUATION
 Tables
 Table number
 Table title
 Box head
 Stub
 Body
 Rules
 Footnotes
 Source line
 Continuing tables

17. CONCLUSION
 My favorite chapter was chapter 7. I enjoy learning about the
design and layout of a website. I am constantly on different
websites and one of my pet peeves is when the layout of a
website is wrong beyond help.
 The video power points stuck with me a lot and it helped
understand the reading more.

18. REFERENCE

19. REFERENCE
 The Business Writer’s Companion. 7th Edition. Gerald J. Alred,
Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Olio. Bedford/St. Martin’s. Boston
2014.
 Canvas chapter videos.